The present invention relates to a keyboard input device for transmitting information to a suitably coupled electronic system, such as a telephonic switching system or a digital computer. More particularly, it relates to such a device wherein the keyboard is specially ergonomically designed with reference to the architecture of the human hand in such fashion that, at least with respect to the thumb on the hand, only slight gestural motion is required for effective, multiple, differentiated key actuation.
Electronic devices continue to be developed which incorporate keyboards or keypads for information entry into an electronic system. Hand-held devices, particularly devices designed to be gripped and held in one hand, are made for a variety of tasks. A portable telephone, such as a cellular telephone, is an example of a hand-held device designed to be gripped and held in one hand and which includes a keyboard information entry system. Because portable telephones are sometimes used by a person engaged in an activity which requires more or less continuous use of the hand which is not holding the telephone, such as driving a car, the ability to both grip a portable telephone and operate its keyboard with a single hand would be useful. Since the user's fingers are customarily employed in gripping the telephone, it would be particularly helpful if a keyboard could be provided which is operable by the user's thumb.
Recent advancements in the development of finger-associable key clusters have helped achieve a better understanding of how keys can be arranged to confront, in an advantageous way, the skeletal architecture of the hand. In the parent application of which this application is a continuation-in-part, namely, applicant Ser. No. 07/771,760, filed Jun. 6, 1991, entitled ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD INPUT DEVICE, which will issue as U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,477, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference, I have described my new ergonomic keyboard input device which incorporates finger-associable key clusters. The problem addressed by my invention has lead to the development of a new generation of ergonomic keyboard input devices, of which the present invention is one example.
In recent past years, there has been a dynamic and explosive growth in the use of keyboard devices. This growth, as many know, has been driven largely by the proliferation and ready availability of computer systems for substantially all arenas of society, ranging from business to individual settings. Accompanying this explosion, unhappily for those who spend many hours using such devices, are various annoying and debilitating muscular syndromes that result from repetitive, fatiguing hand, wrist and finger motions that are required in the use of the ubiquitous, conventional typewriter-like keyboards. These syndromes translate not only into pain and discomfort for the affected users, but also into significant loss of productivity--clearly two problems to which corrective attention should be given.
Attention to this problem, generally, is not new in the art, as is evidenced by many serious attempts to alleviate keyboard-use "injuries" through innovative keyboard layouts and architectural designs. Two very good illustrations of approaches taken in the prior art are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,332,493 to Einbinder, and 4,849,732 to Dolenc.
The Einbinder patent discloses a typewriter keyboard in which, not only are keys laid out in a fashion relating to what might be though of as the "footprint" of the human hand, but also the proposed keys are designed with topographically height- and angle-differentiated actuation pads that tend to minimize, somewhat, overall hand and finger motion during use. However, the Einbinder system still focuses significant attention on the importance of having so-called "home positions" for the finger and thumb tips, from which positions the fingers (and therefore the hands) must travel appreciably in order to perform the usual kinds of typing operations. Thus, the Einbinder approach steps toward, but closes only a portion of the gap in, solving the motion difficulties encountered with conventional keyboards. Put another way, Einbinder does not substantially eliminate these difficulties.
The Dolenc patent illustrates and describes a one-hand key shell which includes fan-like arrays of plural keys distributed in elongate rows and organized for specific actuation by the thumb and four fingers of a hand. Angular and topographical distinctions for individual keys, such as those shown in the Einbinder patent, are not present in the Dolenc system. Dolenc also, apparently, does not establish a "home position" for the tips of the fingers and thumb. Dolenc is concerned with minimizing hand motion, but not particularly finger motion. In fact, Dolenc speaks in terms of organizing keys in the arrays in such a fashion that they take into account the "motion and range of the respective fingers of the hand." Thus, Dolenc clearly contemplates fingertip actuation of each key, and reinforces this concept by teaching that a full equivalent of the push-button keys which he illustrates could take the form of a series of flat-panel touch pads. Accordingly, while Dolenc seriously addresses the issue of minimizing hand motion, his system does not appreciably contribute to minimizing finger motion (and hence related wrist motion).
There are other patents of which I am aware that address, to different degrees, modified keyboard arrangements. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,369,807 to Solon, 4,244,659 to Malt, 4,579,470 to Casey, 4,597,681 to Hodges, and 4,824,268 to Diernisse H.V. None of these latter-mentioned five patents appears to address, at least as pointedly as Einbinder and Dolenc, the issues of keyboard motion "injuries."
In addressing the problems associated with repetitive finger motion I have also developed an ergonomic keyboard configuration which addresses the problem of providing a thumb-actuable keyboard on a hand-grippable device such as a portable telephone. Since there is a need for thumb-actuable keyboards on electronic instruments such as telephones, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a keyboard input device which allows a user to input numbers or other information into the device using only the thumb, thereby allowing the rest of the digits on the user's hand to be employed in gripping the device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a thumb-actuable key cluster on a keyboard which minimizes the motion required of the thumb to input information via actuation of the keys.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a thumb-actuable key cluster which is readily usable, by temporary movement of the thumb, to a key-actuation position on the device without having to release the user's grip on the device.
Accordingly, a hand-held device is provided for entering information into an electronic system via a keyboard. The device comprises a housing having a grippable portion which permits the device to be held in one hand with the thumb free to move at least temporarily to a predetermined key-actuation position while the device is held. The unique architecture of the device includes a concavity formed in the housing at the aforementioned key-actuation position. A thumb-associable cluster of keys forms a keyboard within the concavity. The keys are selectably actuable via mixed lateral, and slight endo, translation of a thumb within the concavity, whereby information is entered into the electronic system.
In its preferred form, the concavity on the housing of the device contains a plurality of keys which are located within a cone of motion of the user's thumb whose apex resides adjacent the base of the thumb. Individual keys in the cluster of keys are oriented in planes which are angularly offset from one another to permit selective actuation by minimal movement of a thumb positioned in the concavity.
These and other objects attained, and advantages offered, by the present invention will become more fully apparent as the description that now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.